


Break In

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 17:05:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13640646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: The Hightower family (and Louisa and Anne) finally save those ponies, and a certain horse that Louisa noticed in the first botched rescue mission.





	Break In

“No!” Louisa screamed as the little black Welsh pony threw himself between the Hightowers and Anwir. Anwir grinned, light glinting off of the syringe that he held, a single drop of the poisonous serum beading at the tip. Madison joined her screaming as Anwir plunged the syringe down, injecting the serum right into Nightdust’s neck. The horse whinnied, his eyes rolling white, but the serum took effect quickly. Far too quickly. In an instant, he looked dead-eyed, his eyes glazing over and his body going unnaturally still.

“Nightdust!” Madison sobbed, trying to run to her horse’s side, but her father grabbed her arm, holding her back. Madison struggled, her blue cuff slipping further down her arm, but Erik managed to wrap his arms around his daughter and hold her close. She stared at her horse, tears dripping from her blue eyes. “Nightdust…”

“And as for you…” said Anwir, turning and grinning rather menacingly at the three heroes.

“Run, Louisa!” Erik called, pushing his daughter towards the older girl. Louisa began to move, trying to pull Madison along, but the little girl remained stubbornly where she was, her face set in a determined scowl.

“I’m not leaving without him,” said Madison. “You can’t make me.”

“Madison, we don’t have time for this,” said Louisa, trying to pull her along. But Madison yanked her hand away, leaving Louisa standing there, stunned, as Madison ran off towards the caged horses. The goons who were still standing after the earlier fight tried to stop her, but she was determined and fast. “Madison!” Louisa ran after her, not wanting to leave the little girl behind.

She found the little girl struck dumb, staring at a horse kept in a cage right at the back of the large warehouse. Madison held a hand out in awe, though the creature inside the cage didn’t move.

“Madison?” asked Louisa, seeing what the girl saw. “Is that…?”

“It’s a horse that can fly me to the moon,” Madison breathed, still staring at the winged horse. There was no denying the wings on it, despite how awful it looked. It was so thin that Louisa could count its ribs, and its breathing was shallow.

“Concorde?” Louisa whispered, reaching her hand through the bars of the cage. The horse opened its large brown eyes and looked up at her, pleading with the best defence that helpless animals had- the sad, sad eyes. But then the horse blinked, tilting his head in a very non-equine gesture.

“Hello,” said the horse. Madison looked just as shocked as Louisa felt.

“Did you hear that too?” asked Louisa. Madison nodded. 

“Have you finally come to rescue me?” asked the horse, struggling to stand. His hooves were overgrown, but his filthy coat was lighter on his chest and down his face.

“We’ll come back for you,” said Louisa, hearing the sound of boots on concrete. “Right now, we have to leave. But don’t worry, Concorde, I will get you out of here. I promise.” Concorde lowered his head, his knees buckling under him. Louisa could see sores on his knees where that had happened many times before, and her heart went out to the poor creature.

“Please hurry,” said Concorde, stretching his neck out along the bottom of his cage and resting his head among the filthy hay.

Months later, Louisa called an unofficial meeting of the Soul Riders. Lisa sat in an armchair while her girlfriend paced, and Linda perused Louisa’s bookshelf in her father’s house. At last, the door opened, and Louisa stopped pacing and only smiled as she always did when Alex walked into the room, carrying the pink form of Anne in her arms. Her time in the crystal had turned her skin permanently pink, it seemed, though Alex reported that the water was pink whenever Anne showered. And anyway, it had only been a few weeks.

“Good, you’re all here,” said Louisa.

“Yeah, you said it was important,” said Alex. “What’s happened?”

“Has Goldmist done anything else interesting?” asked Linda.

“No,” said Louisa with a shake of her head. “Not yet, unfortunately. But this is about a horse.” She looked at Anne, whose pink gaze still hurt to look at.

“You’re not trying to find another horse for me, are you?” asked Anne. “I know he’s not dead, I can feel it.”

“No, of course not,” said Louisa. “And honestly, I feel like a bit of an idiot, because I should’ve told you this months ago.”

“What is it?” asked Alex, giving her friend a stern glare. She was always extremely touchy wherever Anne’s feelings might get hurt.

“He’s alive,” said Louisa, immediately feeling as guilty as she had when she’d finally remembered it. “I know because I saw him a few months ago.” She closed her eyes, bracing for the anger and sadness. But none came. Instead, she heard a rustling sound, and then footsteps crossing the room. She opened her eyes to find Anne staring at her, and Alex watching her girlfriend with grave concern.

“Where?” asked Anne, not taking her eyes from Louisa’s. She still looked terribly thin, but there was a new intensity in her eyes other than the pink light of Pandoria.

“He’s being kept in a warehouse at Pier 13, the address is… if I’m remembering it correctly, Sjomansgaten 32,” said Louisa, frowning as she hoped that she said the name right. Anne turned to her girlfriend.

“Do you know where that is?” asked Anne.

“Uh, yeah, or at least, I know where Pier 13 is,” said Alex.

“Get off the tram at Pier 13, it’s the only stop. The other piers are closed off with fences,” said Louisa.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” said Anne, making her way for the door.

“Are you sure?” asked Alex, hurrying after her. Anne turned to face her.

“Nothing could keep me from the other half of my soul,” said Anne. “We must go now. Each second away from him is another second that he or I could die and be taken from the other forever.”

“Babe, I agree, but we can’t just run in blind,” said Alex, placing a gentle hand on her girlfriend’s arm. “We could get ourselves killed that way.”

“I don’t care,” said Anne, her voice a harsh whisper as emotion threatened to overtake her. Pink tears gathered in her eyes, spilling over. “I have to save him. I need him, Alex.”

“Alex is right,” said Louisa, hoping that Anne wouldn’t jump down her throat. “The warehouse is well-guarded, and Anwir would not hesitate to kill someone. He pushed a little girl off of a barge when he first took the Welsh ponies. And I’m pretty sure that he works either for or with Dark Core.” At the mention of that evil company, Anne began to tremble.

“We’ll go in tonight, then,” said Alex. “Go in, get Concorde, and leave.” Louisa’s phone buzzed, and, as she checked it, a smile spread across her face.

“Or you could come into Jorvik City with me right now,” said Louisa. “I just got a message from Erik. He’s found Madison, and we’re about to storm the warehouse and free all of those ponies.”

“And one very special Jorvik Warmblood,” said Anne, smiling primly. “Let’s go.”

Louisa met Madison and Erik at Pier 13, as planned. 

“Hi,” said Louisa, smiling at them. “Hope you don’t mind that I brought company, Anne’s horse is in there too.”

“Uh, hi,” said Erik, waving at them. “Pleased to meet you, I guess?” He looked worried.

“Why are you pink?” Madison blurted. Alex immediately frowned and Louisa gasped, but Anne only gave the little girl a gentle smile.

“Because I was in hell for over two years,” said Anne.

“Oh,” said Madison. “Well, welcome home! Now, let’s go save our horses!”

“Just a minute,” said Erik, grabbing his daughter’s arm as she made to run off. Madison pouted but stopped. “Your mother is busy trying to shut off the security cameras and find a way in for us, so once I get her message, we’re good to go.”

“Fine,” said Madison, crossing her arms in front of her chest and frowning. Anne actually smiled.

Fortunately for them all, Erik’s phone buzzed with a message not long after. Upon reading the message, he took a deep breath and gave a grim smile.

“That was our signal,” said Erik. “Time to go. Oh gosh, I’m nervous.”

“Me too,” said Louisa, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans.

“Okay, so Holly’s going to set off an alarm, which will send all of the guards to the emergency assembly point and out of our way,” said Erik. “So don’t be, er, alarmed when that goes off.” Anne rolled her eyes but chuckled at the pun. “When that happens, we’ll sneak in the back door and make our way to the lab. Once there, we’ll send the ponies out through the corridor and Madison can guide them to Jonas’ boat, on the back of Nightdust if he’s up to it.” Madison bounced on her toes at the idea, grinning.

“That’s a great idea, daddy!” Madison cried. Erik shushed her, looking around at the guards.

“Not so loud,” Erik whispered. Madison nodded, her eyes wide, and made a zipping motion across her lips.

“She’s so cute, I want one,” Anne murmured to Alex, who flushed red at the idea but smiled and nodded.

“I can help take care of the guards while we’re running to safety,” said Alex, her palms glimmering with light.

“It won’t kill them, will it?” asked Erik, frowning as he looked at the lightning. “I just don’t want to wind up in jail because I killed someone.”

“Nah, it’s fine, I’ll just stun them for a while,” said Alex. “Besides, I’m pretty sure their bosses, if they do work for Dark Core, don’t want the secret of magic getting out. By the way, don’t mention all of this magic business to anyone.”

“Believe me, I would rather forget it myself,” said Erik, suddenly looking far more tired than he ever had before. 

“Okay, so I’ll go in with Anne and Madison, and Alex, Erik, and whoever else can be in charge of fighting the goons, Anwir and Carl,” said Louisa. “That about right?” They all nodded.

“My parents will obviously be here too, Jonas will help load the ponies onto the barge and my mama has a mean right hook,” said Erik. “Mama doesn’t believe in magic, so she’ll just explain away the lightning as something else.”

“Good,” said Alex, nodding. “So I guess all we’ve gotta do now is wait.”

It wasn’t long before an alarm started to blare at the warehouse, and the patrolling guards headed for the assembly point near the tram station in the orderly fashion of people who were convinced that this was an actual emergency. In the chaos, it was only too easy for Louisa to sneak inside the back door with Madison and Anne. She led the way, remembering this area best out of anyone present.

As soon as she opened the door, though, Anne ran past her, filled with more energy than Louisa had seen in her ever since she’d first returned with the weak Soul Rider in her arms.

“Concorde!” Anne cried, skidding to a stop in front of one of the cages. Her palm glimmered with light not unlike Lisa’s healing flames, and she melted through the lock with ease and wrenched the cage door open, molten metal searing holes through her clothing but she didn’t seem to feel it. She had eyes only for the sad shape that lifted his head to whicker softly at her. Louisa arrived at Anne’s side in time to see Concorde’s head sag to the ground again.

“I didn’t realise how weak he was before,” said Louisa, everything seeming to fade into silence while Madison darted around with a screwdriver in her hand, frantically working on freeing all of the caged horses. They seemed to have more energy, or maybe Madison’s energy was infectious. Whatever the case, they all managed to get to their hooves and head towards the door, all of them glad to be out of their cages but confused as they milled in the open space. Louisa was glad that Madison hadn’t gone straight for Nightdust, though she was also a little confused.

“Well then, you should have rescued him before!” Anne snapped at Louisa, effectively drawing her back to the present. “We should’ve brought Lisa.”

“According to the druids, I have healing magic too,” said Louisa.

“Then what are you waiting for?” said Anne, grabbing Louisa’s hand and pressing it quite firmly into Concorde’s chest. “Heal him!” Louisa nodded and concentrated, willing Concorde to get better. It was draining, having to use this much energy, and Louisa felt her eyelids droop. But it was working, Concorde beginning to take deeper breaths. He even lifted his head, a new life in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“That’s better,” said Concorde. As he got to his hooves, Louisa wobbled and tried to stand. Her vision whited out for a moment and all she could hear was a ringing noise, but, once her senses returned to her, she saw Anne sitting atop Concorde, looking healthier than either of them had in months. Concorde was still filthy and far too thin, but the wings that he extended were as gloriously grey and white as Louisa had always dreamed they would be, if a little dirty.

“Is everyone out of here now?” asked Anne.

“We will be soon,” said Madison, sitting on top of a muscular Nightdust. The pony snorted, and Louisa was surprised and dismayed to see that he was a Dark Horse now, flames flickering about his hooves. And yet, he seemed to still greatly care for the little girl who sat astride him, allowing her to sit there and even nickering softly as she rubbed his ears. “Come on, Nightdust, let’s blow this joint.” Anne smirked, and Concorde gave an answering whinny as he reared up onto his hind hooves.

“Just let me know once you’re outside, won’t you?” said Anne.

“I have a walkie-talkie,” said Madison, holding it up. Anne nodded.

It felt like it took ages but, when the message finally came through, Anne gestured Louisa over.

“It’s time for you to hitch a ride on someone else’s horse for once,” said Anne.

“Are you sure?” asked Louisa, eyeing off the thin form of Concorde. “Can he handle two riders?”

“Of course I can,” said Concorde with a snort. “Now that you’ve healed me, I feel much better.” He spread his wings, which still looked messy. “Climb aboard. You have flown before, haven’t you?”

“Goldie has sprouted wings, yes,” said Louisa, nodding. She still felt a little unsure about this, but she climbed onto Concorde’s back anyway, situating herself behind Anne.

“Now, I won’t mind if you feel the need to hold tightly to me,” said Anne. “Just as long as you keep your hands away from my curves.”

“I’ll try to,” said Louisa as she sat behind Anne. Concorde shifted, distributing their weight better, and lowered his head.

“Mind your head,” said Anne, as, grinning, she raised a hand glowing with power and shot a hole through the ceiling. Louisa screamed, ducking as debris rained down around them, but Anne just cackled gleefully as Concorde rose into the air and flew through the hole in the roof. Below them, the smoking debris ignited the hay, and smoke was quickly billowing out of the warehouse. Louisa heard shattering glass and small explosions below her, her nose and mouth filled with smoke as she clung tightly to Anne’s waist, but she only had eyes for the rescue mission below them.

It seemed that every white-coated goon was now a glimmering statue through the smoke, a herd of ponies and horses quickly passing through them on their way to the waiting barge. Alex remained near the warehouse, stunning with Soul Strike anyone who got close enough. And standing on the barge was Nightdust, Madison on his back calling the ponies over and directing them where to go. Louisa smiled at the sight, even as Concorde wheeled away from it, flying over the city and towards the wonderful green hills of Jorvik. It was finally time to go home.


End file.
